Top Gear (in its original 30-minute format) was a car-based BBC television series produced by BBC Birmingham. It consisted of 30-minute magazine format programmes presented by a number of people, including Angela Rippon, Noel Edmonds, William Woollard, and most recently Jeremy Clarkson, broadcast from 1977 to 2001. In 2002, the show was relaunched in a new one-hour studio-based format.

In 2001 due to falling ratings, the BBC chose to axe the show. Channel 5 then decided to revive the show with the then current presenters (Quentin Willson, Vicki Butler-Henderson and Tiff Needell). Because BBC owns the name rights, the show had to be renamed 5th Gear. The show was only revived because Jeremy Clarkson was considered to be the most popular presenter of them all and many people had considered his absence to be the cause of the demise of the show

During a "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" segment with Lionel Richie, a wheel broke off as his Suzuki Liana was approaching one of the fastest parts of the course. Richie managed to keep the car under control and got another go at his fastest lap (something which is not normally allowed). The sequence was aired in the UK as part of the show (complete with an embarrassed Jeremy Clarkson), but appears not to have been in the US where an edited version of the show is screened.

The show has a number of Suzuki Liana's for use in the celebrity race segment, entitled "Star in a reasonably priced car". The Liana was chosen because it is quite a decent spec of equipment for a car under 10,000 pounds. Originally they were going to use a Hyundai, but Hyundai refused to help them out - prompting the first episode of the show to be advertised as "containing no Hyundais". The Lianas have appeared in various disguises; sporting flames for Rock Singer Justin Hawkins of The Darkness, and an Indian tissue box for Sanjeev Baskhar. There are several Lianas in case one breaks during the show. To date, David Soul is the only celebrity to have broken all of the available Lianas during filming.

Currently (Sept 05) the fastest time around the Top Gear track is 1 min 18.9 seconds by a Maserati MC12. However there have been faster laps which are not included on the board because they have not been performed by road cars. The laps are: Aston Martin DBR9 (the racing version of the DB9 GT car) 1 min 8.6 secs, Renault Formula 1 racing car 59.0 seconds (in the wet) and a BAe Sea Harrier Fighter jet which did the track in 31.2 seconds despite taking the final two corners "somewhere over Kent".

The show is famous for its humorous features. These have included - TV Chef Jamie Oliver making a tossed salad in the back of his Porsche-engined camper van whilst it was being raced around the test track by The Stig. - Car Darts when James May and Richard Hammond were launching cars by compressed air into a quarry and onto a target (which was made juicier by the addition of a caravan in the bullseye). - Russian Roulette when Hammond and May worked for Taxibike and gave comments on the cars they drove their clients home in. - The Toyota Hilux where they attempted to see what it would take to break one of these trucks (it was parked in the sea for a full tidal cycle, set on fire and finally put on top of a tower block that was subsequently demolished) - despite their best efforts the thing still started and moved. - The use of a Boeing 747 at full thrust against a Citroen 2CV and various abuses against caravans.

The show has close links with the UK military who have, among other things; tried to target a Range Rover Sport with a Challenger 2 tank; proved that a Hughes Apache attack helicopter cannot get a missile lock on a Lotus Exige; driving a Mercedes SLK and a Porsche Boxster through an Irish Guard sniper-filled abandoned town to see how many times they could hit the driver; set the fastest ever lap of the test track using a Royal Navy BAe Sea Harrier FA.2 (0.31 sec); and launched Stig One to his 'death' from the deck of HMS Ark Royal during a drag race between a stripped & nitrous-modified Jaguar XJS and a Sea Harrier.

The revamped 2002 series onwards is filmed at the former BAe Systems site at Dunsfold aerodrome

The famous last corner in the Top Gear (revamped version) track is called "Gambon corner". It is named after actor Michael Gambon who drove a Suzuki Liana (as part of the "Reasonably priced car" challenge) and nearly flipped over at the last corner. Since then, Jerermy Clarkson dubbed the last corner as "Gambon corner".

Winners of Reasonably Priced car challenge: 2002: Jay Kay 2003: Jodie Kidd (who beat Jay Kay's time) 2004: Simon Cowell (who beat Jodie Kidd's time) 2005: Jimmy Carr (who beat Jimmy Carr's time) 2005: Ellen MacArther

The test driver, The Stig, never speaks a word and his face has never been seen (it being always hidden behind a tinted visor).

For the first two seasons, The Stig was Perry McCarthy, a former Formula One driver as well as a test driver for three F1 teams. A new Stig took over from McCarthy after the original Stig's "demise" at the beginning of Season 3. On the 18 March 2006 the former Stig, Perry McCarthy, revealed that currently there is no one single test driver, but multiple test drivers who masquerade as the Stig; he said this when he appeared at a Palmer Sport activity day in Bedfordshire, UK. Rumours have it that one of the new Stigs is Damon Hill and occasionally Colin McRae. And in January 2006, the Daily Express claimed that the identity of The Stig is former Formula 1 driver Julian Bailey.